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Parish Newsletters
14th Sunday Year (C)
3 July 2022
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
Taken from Preparing the Liturgy, the Magazine of the Society of St Gregory.
This is an upbeat set of Readings! In the Gospel Jesus sends out seventy-two disciples and they come back rejoicing. He instructs them to be simple pilgrims, to accept the hospitality they find, to cure the sick and to proclaim that, ‘The Kingdom of God is very near to you’. Their initial greeting should be one of peace, ‘Peace to this house’. This makes a clear link with the First Reading from the prophet Isaiah, “Towards her I send flowing peace like a river”.
13th Sunday of the Year (C)
25 June 2022
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
The Year C Gospels in Ordinary Time are now taken from St Luke’s Gospel. Throughout the year we have had little opportunity to hear Luke’s story in sequence due to the important interruptions of the seasons, Christmas, Lent and Easter.
The whole of his Gospel is constructed around Jesus’ journey from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south. Such a journey necessitated going through the area of Samaria, a territory detested by right-thinking jews because after the Syrian invasion in the 8th century BC many of the native inhabitants were deported and foreigners were brought in to replace them. The mixed blood descendants were not regarded as proper Jews, especially as they had their own rival Temple on Mount Gerizim.
Corpus Christi Year (C)
18 June 2022
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
“The celebration of Mass is the source and summit of our lives as Catholic Christians” Second Vatican Council 1962-65. This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We recall that Jesus’ command was, “Take and eat and drink. Do this in memory of me”. It is because of that command that people have found no better thing to do than to celebrate the Eucharist, the Mass - for someone who has died - for the success of an operation - for a couple on their wedding day - for a sick person about to die - for consolation in war and in thanksgiving for peace.
Trinity Sunday Year (C)
11 June 2022
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
Three persons - one God
Today we honour and celebrate the Blessed Trinity: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit (three persons in one God).
It took the early Church two centuries and great effort to discern this final doctrine of The Most Holy Trinity. It was at the Council of Nicea, in 325AD, that the doctrine of the Trinity was decreed. All language struggles to capture the essence of ultimate mystery and certainly the Most Holy Trinity is the ultimate mystery!
In the eighth century St John of Damascus provided an example of the Divine Trinity that can be understood in English as three persons, one God, in a divine dance of being and acting, saving and redeeming.
The Parish of Haigh, Aspull & Blackrod
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was founded in the mid 1850's and is part of the R.C. Diocese of Salford. The Church was blessed and opened in 1858, the year of the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes. The Church was re-ordered in the 1990's and several new stained-glass windows were installed, some made in Blackrod, and are an interesting feature of the Church.
Holy Family Parish, New Springs, was funded from Our Lady's in 1898 and in 2009 clebrated the Golden Jubilee of its Church. The community of Blackrod, Bolton, had a chapel-of-ease from 1960 to 2009 when St. Andrews Church Hall was closed.
All three areas - Haigh & Aspull, Blackrod and New Springs are now served from Our Lady's.
Rev Kevin Foulkes
48 Haigh Road
Aspull
Wigan WN2 1YA
TEL: 01942 516732
Mass Times
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
6.00pm
9.30am
11.15am
9.15am
9.15am
9.15am
9.15am
9.15am
11.00am
Haigh
Haigh
Holy Family
Haigh
Holy Family
Haigh
Holy Family
Haigh
Haigh
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturday
11:30 - 12 noon
As announced
Haigh
Holy Family
A Parish History ~ 1858-2018
Mr Livesey & Mr West have worked with local parishioners to produce a book about the history of our parish and school, they have kindly allowed us to reproduce an electronic version of their book, available on the Parish Page, CLICK HERE to read it.
If you would like to purchase a hard copy of the book CLICK HERE
Forward...
It is a privilege and honour to write the forward to the Parish History of Our Lady’s Parish, on its 160th Anniversary.
It has also been a privilege and honour, and a pleasure, to serve as Our Lady’s Parish Priest since 1997 – following in the footsteps of my twenty-six predecessors.
Saint Peter writes ‘He is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house.’ (Peter 2:3-5)
We are the living stones of this Christian community – commissioned as ‘missionary disciples’ to be Christ’s ‘ambassadors’ (St. Paul Cor. 5:20) in loving witness, worship and service to our community.
There have been many changes over these 160 years – in the Church, Society, Education and the design of Our Lady’s Church. The priests and people of Our Lady’s Parish have experienced many joyful family and Parish celebrations but also wars, peace, poverty and economic depressions, through twelve Pontificates and six Reigns – and we too are facing a challenging time for the Catholic Church. Blessed John Henry, Cardinal Newman wrote that ‘To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often’.
And so, building on and celebrating our heritage – the stones of Our Lady’s Church, and the ‘living stones’ of our dedicated, faithful and often courageous priests, parishioners and teachers in our Parish School we can face the future with confidence. We do so knowing that Jesus, Our Risen Lord, has promised to be with his Church forever. (Matthew 28:20)
I commend this publication to be read and enjoyed by everyone.
Many thanks to Phil Livesey and Neil West for their initiative to begin and to bring this book to completion and to all who have collaborated with them, with their own very interesting and often amusing memories! God bless you all.
Fr Kevin C. Foulkes
